74 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2nd s. NO 108., Jan. 23. '68. 



way nor to the same extent, hoaxed the unwary ; 

 for a grave German bibliographer actually cata- 

 logued P. de Montmaur as having published " P. 

 de Monmauri, Gr. Litt. Prof. Reg., Opera," &c., in 

 two volumes! (Sallengre,i. xxij.-vj.,andl35.) No 

 people on earth can match our Gallic friends for 

 literary mystification. And it will be curious in- 

 deed if that most gigantic of all impostures since 

 Mahomet's days, the Book of Mormon, should be 

 ibund to have derived its first hint from Paris. 



Moreover, this fictitious "Mormon " of two cen- 

 turies ago argued in f&y our of polygamy. And, in 

 exact anticipation of modern Mormonism, he sus- 

 tained his thesis by an appeal to Old Testament 

 instances. " Le plus sage de tous les hommes n'en- 

 tretenoit-il pas sept cent femmes, et trois cent con- 

 cubines ? " (Le Tarasite Mormon, p. 93.) 



The modern " Book of Mormon " abolishes an 

 ecclesiastical priesthood ; and the Mormonites have 

 constituted, instead, a secular priesthood for them- 

 selves. Brigham Young, says the President of the 

 United States in his late Message, " is at once 

 spiritual head of the church of the Latter Day 

 Saints, and Governor of the territory of Utah ; so 

 that all authority, secular as well as spiritual, 

 centres in himself." So the original Mormon (of 

 M. de Vayer) " debessassa un Religieux men- 

 diant " for interfering with his craft, saying that 

 he himself was a "mendiant seculier." {Le Para- 

 site Mormon, p. 27.) 



A careful examination will detect several other 

 points of correspondence between the modern 

 Mormonism of the Salt Lake and the strange 

 fiction of a " M. de Mormon " which amused Paris 

 in 1640-50. In the Book of Mormon " plates " are 

 found (we have all heard of the wonderful en- 

 graved plates) in number tiventy-four, "which is 

 the Book of Ether." Twenty-four plates, again, 

 are given by Alma to his son Hilaman. And 

 once more, in the " Book of Mosiah," twenty-four 

 plates of pure gold are brought from the wilder- 

 ness. Now M. de Vayer publishes an imaginary 

 " Catalogue des CEuvres de M. de Mormon " (p. 

 30., &c.) Their number is twenty-four. 



M. de Montmaur was well known at Paris as 

 (he could not have been a very bad man) an in- 

 veterate punster. Hence Montmorisme became 

 at Paris the common name for a pun. (Menage, 

 Diet. etym. :in verbo, and Sallengre, p. Ixviij.) 

 Thus the term Mormonism, as well as the name of 

 Mormon, had its origin two centuries ago. 



The evidence which attributes the "IBook of 

 Mormon " to one Solomon Spalding or Spaulding 

 is hardly sufficient to settle the question histori- 

 cally. The " Book " bears internal evidence of 

 having been originally written by a Jew, though 

 since enlarged and modified to answer the purposes 

 of proselytism. But there seems good reason for 

 suspecting, whoever was the author, that in his 

 first conceptions of the work he borrowed a hint 



from that tissue of fictions and forgeries which at 

 Paris, in the middle of the seventeenth century, 

 enveloped the unfortunate P. de Montmaur. 



Thomas Boys. 



P.S. We have considered Mormon as a proper 

 name ; but the same term is employed in French 

 to signify the puffin, and also a very ugly monkey. 



cer- 



THE ENGLISH MILITIA. 



(2"^ S. V. 32.) 



" Pro patria, pro liberis, pro aris atque focis suis, 

 nere." 



This quotation from Sallust concisely implies 

 the objects for which this armc of the English in- 

 fantry force was designed. The manner in which 

 it was raised, at the accession of Geo. III., was by 

 lot or ballot, of persons eligible, in all the counties 

 of England; and whoever was drawn was com- 

 pelled to serve in person, or by substitute, for a 

 given term. The officers in command were se- 

 lected by the Lord Lieutenants of each county, 

 and were required to possess freehold qualifica- 

 tions, — the captains of two hundred pounds per 

 annum, &c. Their services were confined to 

 Great Britain, and persons of high rank and dis- 

 tinction in each county in great numbers took 

 commissions, often even as subalterns ; and with 

 officers and men there was much of a mutual 

 county feeling or attachment. 



In 1798 a most formidable rebellion menaced 

 our dominion in Ireland, and there was an insuffi- 

 ciency of troops to repress insurrection, and to 

 establish lawful authority. At this critical junc- 

 ture the English militia, animated with the most 

 exemplary loyalty, nobly proffered their services ; 

 and an act was passed " to empower the King to 

 accept the services of his militia, voluntarily offer- 

 ing to be employed in Ireland." Under this act 

 ten large regiments were hastened by forced 

 marches to different parts, and embarked for Ire- 

 land. They were as follow : — 



English Militia which 



Regiments. 

 South Devon 

 Dorset 



North Gloucester - 

 Hereford 

 West Kent - 

 Lancashire 

 Leicestershire 

 South Lincoln 

 West SufTolk 

 Worcester 



served in Ireland in 1798. 



Colonels. 

 John Lord Rolle. 

 Geo. Earl of Dorchester. 

 Robt. Kingscote. 

 Cotterel. 

 James. 



Stanlej', M. P. 

 John Duke of Rutland. 

 Sibthorp. 



G. Earl of Euston, M. P. 

 Newport.* 



* Sir Richard Musgrave, Bart., in Memoirs of Rebel- 

 lions in Ireland, 2 vols. 8vo., Dublin, 1802; vol. ii., p. 

 110., says thirteen regiments of the English militia af- 

 rived in Ireland in 1798, but we have found ten only, as 

 above enumerated. 



